Suspended sentence for man spying on lesbian couple
A peeping Tom from Stoke has been found guilty of spying on a lesbian couple having sex in their bedroom, and put on the sex offenders register.
Dean Burton, 36, was also given a 51-week suspended jail sentence.
He had his previous community order for indecent exposure extended for peering through a window and watching the couple naked.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Burton was known to the women.
He had already insinuated that he would like to watch them in private after one of the women told him that she had a girlfriend.
Later the couple saw that a man was looking at them through the window, and installed a security camera overlooking the back of their house.
They later recognised Burton from the tape, and picked him out from an identity parade.
In the UK, non-consensual voyeurism became a criminal offence under the Sexual Offences Act in 2003.
The judge ruled that Burton should escape jail because of his psychological instability.
The Sentinel newspaper reported that a statement was read out to the court from one of the woman that said the incident had left her “insecure, frightened, threatened and a nervous wreck.”
